Straight Down the Middle: Shivas Irons, Bagger Vance, and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Golf Swing

by Josh Karp

Overview

Straight Down the Middle is a humorous and insightful account of journalist and former-18-handicap golfer Josh Karp's quest to achieve inner peace and improve his golf gameall through the art of Zen. Assisted by a quirky roster of excellent practitioners of esoteric, Eastern-fueled, nontraditional golf instruction, Karp embarks on a unique journey across the fairways of North America (and Scotland, of course!) that's as funny as it is illuminating. A golf story in the tradition of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Straight Down the Middle is a blend of helpful tips and hilarious memoir that's a must-read for golfers of all stripes and plaids.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803240643
Publisher:	Nebraska Paperback
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Josh Karp first played golf in the 6th grade and became one of the worst players on very bad high school and college golf teams. Karp is a journalist and the author of A Futile and Stupid Gesture. He lives in Glencoe, Illinois, with his wife and four kids.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Worst Club in My Bag Is My Brain
PART ONE–OUT
chapter 1 Things to Do in Denver When You’re an 18-Handicap
chapter 2 Blue Fairways
chapter 3 Lost in the Maze
chapter 4 Big Sky Buddha
chapter 5 And on Your Deathbed You Will Receive Unconditional Confidence . . . Which Is Nice
chapter 6 The Bizarre Shit
chapter 7 Enter the Sensei
chapter 8 A Swing Is Reborn
PART TWO–IN
chapter 9 Have the Jews Not Suffered Enough?
chapter 10 Zen, Ox Herding, and How I Played the Best Golf of My Life Without Being Murdered by My Wife
chapter 11 Welcome to the Kingdom
chapter 12 The Lost Tribe of Shivas
Acknowledgments

 

Editorial Reviews

“The perfect antidote for anyone who’s ever read Golf in the Kingdom or Zen Golf and wondered what really goes on in the shrouded world of mystical golf.”—Golf Tips Magazine

Golf Tips Magazine

“‘What Is the Sound of One Club Swinging?’ Karp levitates the quest to a new extreme in this quirky memoir of his journey through Zen, meditation and a myriad of other methods—based in Eastern thought—all in hopes of coming out the other end a better golfer and a better man. Straight Down the Middle is thus, karmically, anything but.”—Golf

Golf.com

“A very entertaining account of Josh Karp’s attempt to improve his golf game by reconnecting with his spiritual side. . . . I enjoyed the book immensely, and recommend it to everyone who loves the game.”—Golf Blogger Review

Golf Blogger Review

“Karp’s work is in a league of its own. . . . Without a doubt, Straight Down the Middle is a book worthy of any golfer’s attention.”—Adam Fonseca, Chicago Duffer

ChicagoDuffer.com